Monday, October 15, 2007

My family and I spent the afternoon yesterday at Sawyer Point. Situated under the yellow bridge that connects Cincinnati to Newport, the playground has a great view of the river, is enclosed by a fence (to keep wandering tots in), and has a floor "carpet" made of recycled tires- very squishy and forgiving to any falls.

There are 2 main playgrounds, one of which looks like a castle or fort, the other which is more of a normal modern-day playground made of metal. There is an abundance of swings on both play areas, a big plus for my kids! It seems that a lot of the playgrounds we visit these days have very few swings(???). My kids particularly enjoyed riding the tire swing. Three kids get on it and can swing themselves in circles forever! It was so wild I couldn't watch!

Bring your match box cars, volley ball, and beach toys. There is a match box car race track on the fort playground (you must provide your own cars), and a hudge sand pit with volley ball nets. My 2 preschoolers love to sit in the sand and play.

There is a restroom right near the playground, but sometimes it's closed, for no apparent reason. We were lucky yesterday that it was open!

For extended fun tote along a picnic lunch. There is plenty of lovely green grass where you can sit and eat. There is a concession stand, however it is NEVER open when we go there! Ever!

If you get hungry and didn't plan for picnicing, walk to the left of the bridge-towards Ohio not towards Indiana- (beside the outdoor skating rink!) and there is the Montgomery Inn Boathouse, famous for their BBQ ribs. For non-pork-eating folks like myself there is also plenty on the menu that is absolutely delicious.

I always heard that Bob Hope used to have their ribs flown to him he liked them so much. Oh and yes, the Skating Rink is open April-October and is very very cheap. $1 entry and $1 skate rental.

Friday, October 5, 2007

The Cincinnati office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Ohio chapter (CAIR-Ohio) today called on a local radio station to reprimand a talk show host who claimed that the goal of Islam is "sex with children for eternity."

Yesterday, WLW-AM host Bill "Willie" Cunningham said on air: "The great war of this generation's time is the war against Islamic fascists. . .They do not live for life, they live for death. Only through death can they believe they can be with those 72 virgins in heaven and have sex with children for eternity, which is the goal of that religion."

What I would like to know is what does this radio host want to accomplish with his slanderous, hateful comments? Ya Allah!

The words of my husband ring true once again;

"I've lived in the deep South all of my life, and never encountered any place more Racist than Cincinnati!"

This station, WLW was also recently in hot water for it's (inciting racial hatred) regarding Hispanic/Latinos with it's "The Big Juan" billboards, not to mention their one-sided (hateful) opinion regarding immigration.

The thing that really gets me regarding folks who ascribe to this way of thinking is that in one breath they will say hateful slanderous things about Mexicans or about Muslims, and then in the next breath claim to love Jesus. Jesus loved the most despised people in his Society; prostitutes and tax collectors. He not only loved them, he embraced them, and kept them in his closest circles.

Instead of Division, the citizens of the Tri-State area should be focusing on Unity.

I urge anyone who listens to WLW on a regular basis to please pray that God change your heart, and remove your feelings of hatred for muslims, mexicans, or whatever group of people it is that you despise.

I know that I will be praying for you.

It's only by reaching through and then past our hatred that we can create a world of Peace.